DLA037-0038  Translation

PESTI HIRLAP

BUDAPEST V, VILMOS CSÁSZÁR ÚT 78

PUBLISHERS: LÉGRÁDY BROTHERS

EDITOR’S OFFICE

5.6.1936

Dear Fülöp,

I have heard nothing from you for a long time – at least, not directly. From the British newspapers we see that your son Paul has had a child, so that now you are a grandfather from that branch as well.^[1] Please accept my own and my wife’s heartfelt congratulations.

We are scratching our heads a good deal over how to find a manor house for you. It is not easy. I have made inquiries of Count Móric Esterházy,^[2] among others (Esterházy was formerly Prime Minister, István Tisza’s immediate successor). He was extremely friendly and the first place he considered was his own. He is not using his large manor house at Csákvár at the moment, but a smaller one in Majk, in Komárom County. The trouble is, it’s a very long way from Budapest and the roads are bad. So I think we can dismiss that idea.

After that, Esterházy went through a detailed mental list of a good number of nobles (I should emphasise of course that there are others beside his own acquaintance) and in most cases the situation was the same: they are all “retrenching”: owing to their straitened economic circumstances they are either not using their large manor houses, or only partially using them, or else just using them on a seasonal basis. The old fairytale world has ceased to exist, in other words.

If anyone were likely to have bright ideas in this direction, it would be Pista Bárczy,^[3] I thought, but he too was unable to come up with anything tangible.

In any case we will put our thinking caps on, because we want to tempt you here at all costs.

Many affectionate regards,

Yours truly,

László

Editorial Note:

Doctor László Siklóssy de Pernesz (1881–1951), Hungarian art critic; for biographical notes, see [111404].

AH (translation)

21/07/2025

KB (summary)

14/10/2009